Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for Grantmakers In Health, Carolyn Link discusses the obstacles in gaining access to healthcare coverage and explains how the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation is addressing the issues with strategic plans based on research and evaluation projects. 

· How can philanthropy help expand access to healthcare coverage? 

· Read more about healthcare and healthcare reform.

A few short years ago, Minnesota celebrated an all-time low rate of uninsurance. Through the collective effort of navigators, nonprofits, state agencies, health care institutions, and funders across the state, the rate plummeted from 8.2 percent in 2013 to 4.3 percent in 2015. More than 200,000 Minnesotans (including 35,000 children) gained coverage. All groups of Minnesotans, regardless of income, racial/ethnic group, or age, reported increases in coverage. While disparities remained, uninsured rates for Hispanic and Latino Minnesotans fell dramatically.

It is the connection between health and wealth that brought the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation to the issue. Insurance coverage is linked to better and timelier care, and people with coverage are more likely to have a regular place of care. Also, importantly, people with insurance coverage can more easily avoid the medical bankruptcy that plagues uninsured and underinsured people.

The foundation focused on access to coverage in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but we had evolved our support further upstream on social and economic drivers of health. Reframing access to coverage as a strategy that improves both health and financial stability brought the foundation back to a focus on coverage and enabled us to contribute to Minnesota’s success.

Read the full article about access to healthcare coverage by Carolyn Link at Grantmakers In Health.